Australian Open Day 6

So on to day six of the Aussie Open and we have sixteen high quality matches to look forward to tonight. The first match up is the interesting match between Victoria Azarenka and Jamie Hampton. Hampton has been gaining a reputation on the tour recently and I expect her to crack the top thirty this year. This match is going to be a step too far for her though. Azarenka is playing some great tennis and she will want to go into week two on a high. Expect some good rallies but Vika will come through in two.
          The night game on Rod Laver Arena is being built up by tennis pundits everywhere. Everybody is eager to see if Bernard Tomic can actually beat Roger Federer. He is unbeaten this year and many feel he is about to finally make his impact on the tour. That may be the case but will he beat Federer? Absolutely not. Federer is still up there able to compete with Djokovic and Nadal (off the clay) and he has never been beaten by Murray in a major. So the incentive is there for him to prove wrong the pundits who are writing him off. Also it will be Roger's 250th career Grand Slam win if he gets it and with Tomic having been mouthing in the press I expect Roger to come out firing. He will take the ball early and use extreme angles to pull Tomic off the court and win this in three.
             Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils will face off tomorrow morning in what could be a thrilling match. Monfils has recovered well from an injury which kept him out for quite some time and by the end of the year I expect him to have returned to the top thirty and be a force again in majors. Simon is a player who has the ability but looks to always fall just short of beating the top guys. This could be a lengthy five set match and so I will go with Simon to outlast Monfils because of Monfils lack of five set match practice.
            Sloane Stephens will face fellow teen Laura Robson with both players having different passages through to this stage. Robson came through and ugly match with Petra Kvitova in their last game. It was filled with errors and the average rally was three strokes. Kvitova was poor and Robson wasn't much better. Compare that to Sloane Stephens cruising through her games and it's obvious who the favourite is. Stephens is a far better player and should be able to expose Robson's serve and poor movement. I expect Stephens to get through this one in straight sets, just like she did against her last week.
            Milos Raonic and Phillip Kohlschreiber should provide a great game for viewers when they face off in the morning. Kohlschreiber has played well this week and he is the type of player to cause Raonic problems, just like he did to John Isner at the US Open. I like Raonic and I think he could have a massive future but only if he starts bringing his A-game on the big occasions. He was disappointing at Wimbledon and the US Open and the Masters 1000 events but yet he can beat Andy Murray in Tokyo. His serve and ground strokes are a match for anyone and I fully expect Raonic to go on to face Federer in the next round.
           I'm going to go with an upset in the meeting between Andreas Seppi and Marin Cilic. Seppi is improving all the time and is starting to pull out some good wins. Just a hunch that he might knock out Cilic. Svetlana Kuznetsova should progress and remain a real contender for the title here by beating Carla Suarez Navarro in straight sets. Kimiko Date-Krumm at 42 years of age is surely not going to have enough to win another game and so I think Bojana Jovanovski will get the win there.
          Caroline Wozniacki should have too much tennis for Lesia Tsurenko and Serena Williams is another who should have too much power for Ayumi Morita. I expect Maria Kirilenko to continue her run by beating Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets and despite her great start to the year I don't think Elena Vesnina will reach the second week. I fancy the feisty Italian Roberta Vinci to win that one. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga should have a comfortable passage through when he faces Blaz Kavcic. I would be shocked if fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet didn't join him in the fourth round and beat Ivan Dodig tonight.
          While I expect Andy Murray to win tonight, I am looking forward to seeing Ricardas Berankis playing. He was world number one junior in an age which contained Raonic, Harrison, Tomic, Dimitrov and Nishikori. A horrible misdiagnosis and a bad injury have set him back but he has finally settled into the tour and he should now be able to make a significant impact on the tour. Tonight could be too early for him but remember the name. Murray will need to conserve energy because meetings with Simon/Monfils and then Del Potro await in the next two rounds.
           Finally, Juan Martin Del Potro faces Jeremy Chardy in a battle of two big hitters. Del Potro was playing brilliant in the first two rounds and I genuinely place him as my second favourite for the title right now. Remember back to 2009 when he dominated the Summer and captured the US Open and the similariies in his attitude are alarming. He is returning to full form and when he is at his best I think he could be the one to consistently disrupt that incredible Nadal-Djokovic rivalry we saw last year. This match won't be a problem for him and Delpo will come through with ease.